


Of Wolves and Men

by theunwillingheart



Category: Wolf's Rain
Genre: Aimlessness, Alcohol Abuse, Angst, Gen, Hatred, Paradise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-18
Updated: 2017-02-18
Packaged: 2018-09-25 09:26:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9813206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theunwillingheart/pseuds/theunwillingheart
Summary: Hubb Lebowski would like Quent Yaiden to know that the wolves are all dead.A few extra scenes on the Hubb and Quent road trip.Set during Episode 13: Men’s Lament.





	

Hubb Lebowski would like Quent Yaiden to know that the wolves are all dead.

“The wolves are all dead,” he says.  He raises the bottle to his lips and takes another large gulp.

Quent doesn’t even hesitate to refute him.  “Wolves aren’t dead ‘til I say they are.  You oughta know—even the dogs remember what they are.  Just look in their eyes.  You oughta know.”

Through the haze of alcohol, Hubb remembers that Quent used to have a dog.  Hubb decides not to bring it up.

“You leave all the wolf hunting to me, Lover Boy,” growls Quent.  “Just keep looking out for your damsel.”

“Cher’s not a _damsel_ ,” Hubb over-enunciates.  “She’s my _wife_.”

“Ex-wife.”

“Huuh?”

“She’s your _ex-wife_ , Hubb,” Quent repeats loudly.

“Yeah, exactly!” replies Hubb, matching his volume.  “That’s right!”

\---

“Ooh,” Hubb is wincing.  “Never doing that again.”

Quent almost feels sorry for him.  Didn’t they teach the cadets to hold their liquor at the Academy anymore?

Hubb makes a concerted effort to walk smoothly back to the car with his eyes almost closed.  He stumbles on the frozen ground and hisses out a curse.

Apparently not.  Quent slides back behind the wheel.

“Hey, Quent,” says Hubb in a dazed voice.  His eyes are unfocused as he gazes out the windshield onto the endless tundra.  “D’you reckon the world’s ending?”

“It’s a hangover,” Quent says gruffly.  He reaches over to shove Hubb’s hat down over his eyes.  “You’ll live.”

\---

“Saying you _do_ catch up with Cher.  What do you hope happens then?”

Hubb is driving again.  He smiles nervously.  “I figure that anything we end up doing is fine.  I just really need to see her, make sure that she’s okay.  Then, I guess we’ll just do whatever she wants to do.  Like before,” he laughs.  Quent grunts.

The young detective is uncertain, but he goes for it anyway.  “What about you—what happens after all…” he gestures around vaguely with his right hand, “all of this?”

He doesn’t ask, _Will you be okay?_   He doesn’t ask, _Do you have a place to go?_

He doesn’t have to.  “I’m not terribly concerned,” answers Quent, and that’s all he has to say on the matter.

\---

Quent shifts in his seat uncomfortably.  He’s been turning esoteric phrases around in his mind all day, and it’s starting to make him crave vodka.

“I tell you now the words of Red Moon…” he mutters to himself, arms crossed and scowling.

Hubb shakes his head, hands tightening on the wheel.  “I’ve probably read that book at least a dozen times now.  I’m still not sure I get it.”

“It’s a puzzle,” Quent explains.  “You have to mess around with the interpretation of the words a bit, until the real meaning falls into place.  Then you can use the secret knowledge to do as you see fit.”

Hubb rolls his eyes.  “Only _you_ would turn a piece of ancient scripture into a blunt instrument.”

Quent raises his eyebrows.  “Oh?  Is there something else you would do with it?  Want to recite it on a street corner, earn a few pennies from passers-by?”  He mimes holding out his hat for change, his other hand held over his heart in an expression of mock-gratitude.

“Or get arrested for disseminating forbidden literature,” chuckles Hubb.  “No, I mean… _The Book of the Moon_ isn’t just about what’s going to happen.  It’s also about our past, what happened to get us here.”  He squints and begins to pump the breaks as they hit an ice patch.

“No point in dwelling on what’s over,” says Quent, and his mind is far away now.  “We just have the tasks in front of us, and that’s it.”

\---

“It’s beautiful, though, isn’t it?” Hubb thinks aloud.  He’s leaning back against the side of the car, his eyes closed.

“What’re you goin’ on about?” asks Quent.  He pauses the work of cleaning out his rifle, the parts of which have been laid out on the roof of the car.

“Paradise,” Hubb says, opening his eyes.  “The whole idea of this perfect, new place.”

Quent scoffs.  “If there _is_ a Paradise, it’s somewhere without wolves.” He laughs sourly.  “In that regard, you could say that I’m the man who comes closest to making this world a Paradise.”

“Come on, Quent,” Hubb sighs.  “It’s more than that.  There’s a comfort, in thinking that you can get back what you’ve lost.”

“And what would you know about loss?” Quent snaps.

Hubb doesn’t know how to respond to that.

The old sheriff has begun to reassemble his gun when Hubb decides to try again.

“Your hatred of the wolves,” he says, imploring, “I know that’s not all of you.  You can’t let it be all of you.”

“Nothing wrong with hating a breed of pure monsters,” Quent spits out.

“And your dog?”  Hubb knows better, but he can’t help himself.  “Didn’t you care for her?”

“I told you before; she’s gone.”  Quent’s eyes are dark with anger.  “And if I ever see her again, I’ll shoot her outright.  Put her down, with all the rest of ‘em.”

Hubb doesn’t know why he’s shocked, but he is.  “She was _loyal_ to you-”

“Enough!”  Quent slams his hand down on the roof of the car.  He’s breathing heavily, and when his words come back, they cut through the frigid air.  “I won’t tolerate these beasts any longer.  I should’ve killed her a long time ago, but despite everything, despite what happened to my family, to Ruus-”

Just as quickly as it came, the fury drains from Quent’s face.  He looks about as mild as a man like him could ever be.

“I’d do a good job of it,” he says, almost meekly.  “One clean shot.  She…she wouldn’t have to feel any pain.”

Hubb thinks he has never seen anyone so pitiful in all his years of police work and failing marriage.

“Or you could let this go,” Hubb says, “settle down.”

Quent’s expression is that of a man lost far from home, unmoored in time and space.  The frozen wasteland stretches out around them for miles under a bleak, indifferent sky.

“Where?” he asks.

\---

Quent wanders the town aimlessly as Hubb walks his new beat.

The wolf hunter is making his way along the outskirts of the broken-down place when he sees them—a pair of bright blue eyes, shining from an alley.

“Blue?”

His entire being is electrified, and for an endless moment he is unsure whether to hold forth his arms or his gun.

And then, just like that, they’re gone.  Quent is left alone, to make of the vision what he will.  He shudders and looks up.

A chill wind sweeps down from Lord Darcia’s keep, leaving the scent of wilting lunar flowers in its wake.

**Author's Note:**

> So, who agrees that the useless, idiotic human characters were the best part of _Wolf’s Rain_?
> 
> No one? Just me?
> 
> I’m so fond of these guys. I like to think that the creators of _Wolf’s Rain_ knew that the wolves would be a bit hard to connect with, so they threw in these dumb humans to contextualize everything for us. Far from being forgettable mouthpieces, however, all three of them are interesting and relatable. I sympathize with a different one of them every time I watch this show. Too bad they exist mostly to run around like chickens with their heads cut off as their dying world comes down around them.
> 
> And get wasted! Seriously, each of them gets a drunken rant or two (or, like, ten, in the case of Quent).
> 
> Confusion, drunkenness, and death. Best parts of _Wolf’s Rain_.
> 
> Man, this show is _great._


End file.
